Wendy K. Ellis, CRX, CMD

DIY - The Maxi Mentality - Part 2 - from JonesReport Plus (June 2008)

2/19/2012

Since I began writing DIY five years ago, I have received lots of great feedback from JonesReport Plus readers – and I appreciate every bit of it.   You have inspired many of the DIY articles, including April’s story “The Elephant In the Room”.   In fact, that column generated the most feedback of any I’ve ever written. I heard from industry professionals in every discipline and some colleagues I have not heard from in years.    Several of them asked about a column from a few years back called “The Maxi Mentality” and suggested that it might be time to run it again.

That feedback got me thinking about the connection between “The Elephant In the Room” and “The Maxi Mentality. Maxi’s are coveted by companies large and small, yet marketing is struggling in the shopping center industry. Why is that?   After giving that question quite a bit of through over the last weeks and discussing it with several colleagues, I began to see that “The Maxi Mentality” may be one of the keys to reviving marketing in our industry. So with thanks to those industry friends who reminded me, here’s “The Maxi Mentality” with a few key updates. It’s a way of thinking and marketing that lends itself to participating in the Maxi program – and to showing the value and worth of shopping center marketing. Here’s how you can develop your Maxi Mentality and at the same time show your owners the value of what you do:

Think MAXI First!

Maxi entries should not be an afterthought, they should be the beginning! When you are brainstorming your ideas and creating your marketing programs, think MAXI! Marketing professionals I know that are consistently MAXI finalists have one thing in common – they go in with the attitude that they are playing to win!   It serves them well – after all the MAXI program recognizes excellence, and excellent programs are your goal, right? Not everyone can win and not every program turns out exactly as you expect it to, but if you start with the mentality that your program is “playing to win” you (and it) are much more likely to get there.

Maxi entries should also be something you believe in – heart, soul, blood, sweat, and tears. I once attended a seminar given by that year’s Maxi Chairperson. During her presentation, someone in the group asked her how you should determine what you enter? Her response was, of course, that Maxi’s are about results. But she also pointed out that marketers that win Maxi’s have entered something they are passionate about. If you don’t believe in your program, why should the judges? She was right! My center had three finalist entries that year – and won a MAXI because of that advice! The program that won was called Mall Of Promise and we were not even sure we were going to enter it until we got that advice!

Update: With marketing budgets shrinking and owners wanting to see results generated for every penny, it is more important than ever that you are not only passionate about your programs but that you start the process for every one of them asking the question “What results to I expect this program to generate?”

Implement With MAXI In Mind!

One of the biggest mistakes I see on Maxi entries (including some of my own) is a failure to truly document the results. Great programs often go unrecognized for lack of documented results! So often, when we create a program, we are so focused on making it happen that we fail to think past the “getting it done” to the “proving it worked”.   Unfortunately, this often leaves you with a great program that was a huge success and no way to document your results.

Implement with documentation in mind. Think about what it will take to document your results and implement accordingly. This is particularly important when you are relying on merchants or other parties to provide you with results. Need your merchants to track results – give them a tracking sheet when the promotion begins – not after it has already ended! They are much more likely keep up as they go. Better yet, tell them when they agree to participate that you’ll need results and ask for their help before the program even starts!

At one center I was at, we started a community service effort to collect donations for victims of Hurricane Floyd. One third of our state was literally under water and there were no donation collection sites in our area. We partnered with the Salvation Army and opened our doors as a donation site. Within 24 hours we went from filling 14 foot moving vans to filling dump trucks, to filling semi trucks! It was an incredible effort – at one point donations blocked an entrance to the mall! When all was said and done, in 13 days we sent 1 van, 2 dump trucks, and 7 semi trucks to Flood Relief centers – and had no way to document the value of those donations. Thankfully, our area food bank was able to help us value the donations after the fact, but our entry was not as strong as it could have been as a result. It was a finalist, but it did not win. Just a bit more thought on the front end (logging donations as they came in, arranging with the Salvation Army to value the donations, etc.) and the entry may have done better!

Update: Documentation is even more critical than ever. I recently was discussing a community service program with a senior level management associate from the shopping center industry. I was asked about the results and before I could even answer the comment “well I guess you really don’t have any tangible results since it was a community program” was made. My immediate response was, “ I beg to differ” followed by a detailed account of the results from the program in terms of publicity generated, the increases in market share during the program, tangible benefits to the community, center perception audit results, etc. He was stunned that I had those results from a community service program and our profession as a whole needs to do a better job of “stunning” those who do not truly understand and appreciate what we do.

Don’t Forget The Small Stuff

I’ll never forget my first Maxi entry. It was in the Sales & Merchandising category. The center was small and located in a small market. Out-shopping to a nearby large city was an issue. We created a program for the Spring Fashion selling season aimed at keeping shoppers home. It was very simple – shoppers could register at participating stores to win a $1500 shopping spree. We used creative visual merchandising and collaterals – and a catch! You had to be present at the Spring Fashion Show to win! In this small town, that kind of prize was a big incentive to stay home! The results were stellar – merchant participation was high, a staggering percentage of the market population entered the contest, sales jumped considerably, and more than 1500 people attended the fashion show!    I wasn’t going to enter the program – it was nothing new and different. My corporate marketing director made me enter it.

Well, guess what – that entry became a finalist! I was stunned – I believe I dropped the phone when they called to tell me it was a finalist. Conference was in New Orleans that year and I was just happy to be going. Nobody in the theater was more stunned when that program won a MERIT than me!   A new twist on a tried and true event or program can be a great entry – even if the program is just a small little something that happened to work in a big way for your center! For our small center in our small market, a fashion program that had “been done” in other larger markets was something new and different!

Update:   Never under estimate the value of the “small stuff”. I can’t tell you how many shopping center marketers I have spoken to over the years who shrug off the results of something they see as small and insignificant. If you don’t tell people about them who will? One (or many) small programs can produce fantastic results.

Believe In Yourself – And Your Center

Perhaps the most important part of the “Maxi Mentality” is your belief that you can do it!   I know of so many fantastic marketing programs that have never even seen the Maxi competition because the Marketing Director didn’t believe that they could complete the entry, didn’t believe the program was good enough, or thought “Why bother, I could never win.”   I have a friend in this industry who is one of the most creative and impressive marketing professionals I know. She came to the shopping center world from another industry. I remember her telling a group of other marketing directors about a wonderful community service program she had done. We all thought the program was outstanding and asked her if she was going to enter it? Her response was “Do you think I should?” I can tell you without a doubt – “YES YOU SHOULD!” (Her program was a finalist that year!)

Update: Here is where I used to say, that Call For Entries book is full of rules and can be quite intimidating and it’s a lot of work to put that black three ring binder together.

Well, with the new online system it’s not so difficult. I did my last entry in three days and if you are documenting your program along the way (come on, we all know we should be) uploading all of your files is a snap. But here’s what has not changed: you will be a stronger, more effective marketer for having done it – regardless of whether or not your entry wins. And the belief you have in yourself, your center, and your programs is contagious!

The Maxi Mentality is more important than ever and gives shopping center professionals an opportunity to start that conversation about the value of marketing to our industry. So go ahead, take some time and invest in yourself! Apply some DIY attitude to yourself and take some time to develop your “Maxi Mentality”.   Take a look at your work from the past 18 months and if you have something great - enter! And be sure to send your regional marketing director, corporate director, or even the president of your company a short summary of your results that outlines the value your program generated. Go ahead, do it for yourself!

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DIY - The Maxi Mentality - from JonesReport (May 2004)

2/19/2012

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Are you entering a MAXI this year? Why not? You have lots of great work from the past 18 months right? Stellar results! Important accomplishments! Think you can’t do it? I’ll bet you can! But if you decide you can’t do it this year, it’s not too late to look ahead. I call it the “Maxi Mentality” – a way of thinking and marketing that lends itself to participating in the Maxi program! And with a bit of DIY attitude, you can create a great program that has Maxi written all over it! Here’s how you can develop your Maxi Mentality:

Think MAXI First!

Maxi entries should not be an afterthought, they should be the beginning! When you are brainstorming your ideas and creating your marketing programs, think MAXI! Marketing professionals I know that are consistently MAXI finalists have one thing in common – they go in with the attitude that they are playing to win!   It serves them well – after all the MAXI program recognizes excellence, and excellent programs are your goal, right? Not everyone can win and not every program turns out exactly as you expect it to, but if you start with the mentality that your program is “playing to win” you (and it) are much more likely to get there.

Maxi entries should also be something you believe in – heart, soul, blood, sweat, and tears. I once attended a seminar given by that year’s Maxi Chairperson. During her presentation, someone in the group asked her how you should determine what you enter? Her response was, of course, that Maxi’s are about results. But she also pointed out that marketers that win Maxi’s have entered something they are passionate about. If you don’t believe in your program, why should the judges? She was right! My center had three finalist entries that year – and won a MAXI because of that advice! The program that won was called Mall Of Promise and we were not even sure we were going to enter it until we got that advice!

Implement With MAXI In Mind!

One of the biggest mistakes I see on Maxi entries (including some of my own) is a failure to document the results. Great programs often go unrecognized for lack of documented results! So often, when we create a program, we are so focused on making it happen that we fail to think past the “getting it done” to the “proving it worked”.   Unfortunately, this often leaves you with a great program that was a huge success and no way to document your results.

Implement with documentation in mind. Think about what it will take to document your results and implement accordingly. This is particularly important when you are relying on merchants or other parties to provide you with results. Need your merchants to track results – give them a tracking sheet when the promotion begins – not after it has already ended! They are much more likely keep up as they go. Better yet, tell them when they agree to participate that you’ll need results and ask for their help before the program even starts!

At one center I was at, we started a community service effort to collect donations for victims of Hurricane Floyd. One third of our state was literally under water and there were no donation collection sites in our area. We partnered with the Salvation Army and opened our doors as a donation site. Within 24 hours we went from filling 14 foot moving vans to filling dump trucks, to filling semi trucks! It was an incredible effort – at one point donations blocked an entrance to the mall! When all was said and done, in 13 days we sent 1 van, 2 dump trucks, and 7 semi trucks to Flood Relief centers – and had no way to document the value of those donations. Thankfully, our area food bank was able to help us value the donations after the fact, but our entry was not as strong as it could have been as a result. It was a finalist, but it did not win. Just a bit more thought on the front end (logging donations as they came in, arranging with the Salvation Army to value the donations, etc.) and the entry may have done better!

Don’t Forget The Small Stuff

I’ll never forget my first Maxi entry! It was in the Sales & Merchandising category. The center was small and located in a small market. Out-shopping to a nearby large city was an issue. We created a program for the Spring Fashion selling season aimed at keeping shoppers home. It was very simple – shoppers could register at participating stores to win a $1500 shopping spree. We used creative visual merchandising and collaterals – and a catch! You had to be present at the Spring Fashion Show to win! In this small town, that kind of prize was a big incentive to stay home! The results were stellar – merchant participation was high, a staggering percentage of the market population entered the contest, sales jumped considerably, and more than 1500 people attended the fashion show!    I wasn’t going to enter the program – it was nothing new and different. My corporate marketing director made me enter it!

Well, guess what – that entry became a finalist! I was stunned – I believe I dropped the phone when they called to tell me it was a finalist. Conference was in New Orleans that year and I was just happy to be going. Nobody in the theater was more stunned when that program won a MERIT than me!   A new twist on a tried and true event or program can be a great entry – even if the program is just a small little something that happened to work in a big way for your center! For our small center in our small market, a fashion program that had “been done” in other larger markets was something new and different!

Believe In Yourself – And Your Center

Perhaps the most important part of the “Maxi Mentality” is your belief that you can do it!   I know of so many fantastic marketing programs that have never even seen the Maxi competition because the Marketing Director didn’t believe that they could complete the entry, didn’t believe the program was good enough, or thought “Why bother, I could never win.”   I have a friend in this industry who is one of the most creative and impressive marketing professionals I know. She came to the shopping center world from another industry. I remember her telling a group of other marketing directors about a wonderful community service program she had done. We all thought the program was outstanding and asked her if she was going to enter it? Her response was “Do you think I should?” I can tell you without a doubt – “YES YOU SHOULD!” (Her program was a finalist that year!)

Yes, that Call For Entries book is full of rules and can be quite intimidating. Yes, it takes a lot of work to put together that “plain black three ring notebook”. But I can tell you this; you will be a stronger, more effective marketer for having done it – regardless of whether or not your entry wins. And the belief you have in yourself, your center, and your programs is contagious!

So go ahead, take some time and invest in yourself! Apply some DIY attitude to yourself and take some time to develop your “Maxi Mentality”.   Take a look at your work from the past 18 months and if you have something great - enter! If not, get ready for next year! Go ahead – do it for yourself!

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DIY - Live, Laugh & Learn - from JonesReport Plus (April 2007)

2/19/2012

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This September, I will celebrate fourteen years in the shopping center industry.   I started as a Marketing Administrative Assistant just three weeks out of college, and in those fourteen years have worked at seven malls for seven companies – five of which no longer exist. I often feel like I have seen it all. Recently, someone asked me what the best lessons I had learned from the shopping center industry were. I was stunned by the question – I had never really thought about it before. The question (it came from a potential intern candidate by the way) got me thinking and before I knew it, I had my own “Top Ten” list of sorts. It occurred to me that perhaps some of them may bring a chuckle to your day, so here they are, the top ten ways I have “lived, learned, and laughed” in my time in the shopping center industry:

#10 - Having A Center Court The Size of a Football Field Does Not Mean You Should Play Football In It

At one center I marketed, we had that giant center court and it just so happened that the market was getting a new arena football team! A great partnership right – the team got to promote in the mall, the public got to meet the players, the kids got to learn a few moves, and the mall got a great event in Center Court. And it was, until that football, thrown by a professional quarterback, flew through the air and right through the store front of a center court retailer and bonked a customer on the head which led to a display toppling over. Lesson learned: Be careful what you wish for – and put up safety nets for any event that involved flying footballs!

#9 - The Easter Bunny Can Get You on CNN For All The Wrong Reasons

Ah, the photo set; a thorn in the side of just about every marketing manager in the business at some point.   At one of my past centers, we had parted ways with a photo company under less than hospitable circumstances. A local paper picked it up, complete with a catchy headline: “Mall Sues Santa”. Now that was fun. It was not until the following Easter when we happened to catch a little blurb on CNN with its own catchy headline of “Easter Bunny In Shopping Mall Brawl” that we felt any better.   Not that we wished ill on any of our fellow shopping center professionals, but at least our character never slugged anyone. Lesson learned: It can always be worse – and be sure you are managing and highly engaged with your photo program.

# 8 - Marketing Managers Can Drive Forklifts and Cherry Pickers – Sort Of

Imagine a woman who is nine months pregnant up two stories in a lift (cherry picker) putting the topper on a 36 foot Christmas tree.   Yes, I did it. Yes, there were witnesses.    There is a photo somewhere – and yes it looked as ridiculous as it sounds. Now, rewind two years earlier to that same woman driving a forklift in the parking lot during a hurricane relief supplies collection program, missing the gear, then gently bumping (okay smacking into) the back of the semi we were loading with the pallets of supplies. Thankfully it was a pallet of soft items like paper products that smacked the truck! Lesson learned: I really did think it would be fun to learn to drive a fork lift and I wanted to go up in that lift, but marketing managers are probably best suited to other tasks.

#7 - You Can Give A Television Interview With Morning Sickness, Really

It was the biggest event I had ever done – General Colin Powell (pre-Secretary of State Powell) was coming to my center with North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt for a huge rally and to recognize the mall for our work with America’s Promise. We had media interviews and morning shows lined up back to back and I was ready. I was also four months pregnant.   The local television stations had all sent cameras for live shots on the morning programs – the plan was to put me on the earpiece directly with the anchors for the interviews. The only problem was that at 5:30 am, my stomach was not exactly up for giving the interviews. With about 45 seconds to airtime on the number one station, I was ill for the anchors and the studio tech staff to see and hear. I made it, with about five seconds to spare. I can look back at those tapes now and laugh – I was as green as the jacket I was wearing. Lesson learned: Don’t come to work when you really shouldn’t be there. It turned out great that time, but I certainly would not try it again.

#6 - Professional Athletes Will Not Really Hit You If You Put Them On The Spot

Five former Dallas Cowboys were coming to my center to sign autographs and raise money for the local children’s hospital.   They would participate in a special sponsor luncheon, sign autographs in the mall, then gather in center court to go on stage and speak to the crowd.   The first two elements went great – the lunch was a success and the autograph stations all had big lines! Then we gathered in Center Court and all five players suddenly decided that none of them wanted to be the one to go onstage and speak. I kept asking which was going to do it – I asked the players, I asked the event agent who was there with them. After fifteen minutes, the crowd was not happy. So I asked again, and got the answer that Tony Dorsett, the most famous of the players, would do it. So, I went on stage to introduce him. After what seemed an eternity, he slowly came on stage, took the microphone and with a dead serious look on his face said,”I’ve never hit a woman before, but…”   Center court went silent for about a full 20 seconds and I turned sheet white, then he turned to the audience and grinned. They all started laughing and he went on to give a very nice speech about helping the hospital. I on the other hand nearly fell off the stage. Lesson learned:   Have a plan, but be ready to change it. The crowd can wait while you are dealing with athletes who outweigh you by 100+ pounds.

# 5 - You Can Get Anything Out Of Fashion Show Outfits With Ivory Soap

Spring and Fall fashion shows used to be a staple on the mall calendar. A professional coordinator would come for the week and do everything for the shows, all for a nice tidy sum. As budgets got tighter, we started looking for ways to have fashion event without the expense. At one middle market center, I decided that I would produce the show, select the trends, pull the clothes, pick the music, and use the mall’s teen board members as the models. I had watched professionals do it for years – I could do this!   It was a lot of work, but it was fun! The show was a big success – more than 1,500 people attended. The merchants were thrilled – until we returned the clothes. They had stains, make-up marks, etc. and the mall ended up paying for a lot of damaged clothes. I called up a friend in the fashion business after the fact wanting to know where I went wrong – how come he never had damaged clothes? The answer? Ivory dish soap would take just about any stain out of clothing without leaving a mark – and it costs about 99 cents a bottle. Lesson learned: Consult and /or hire a professional when you need one and do your homework before you attempt to try something new on your own. (Yes, Ivory really does work – try it for yourself!)

#4 - A Teddy Bear Can Cause A Riot

Our center had a new décor program and it was up and looking great for Santa’s arrival at Noon. A horse drawn sleigh would parade the “man in red” to the center where he would walk in to his home in Center Court while being serenaded by a choir and followed by adoring kids. The first 150 kids would receive a special gift, a cuddly teddy bear. But by 10:00am the line was nearing 350 people long. People had begun lining up at 8:00 am and were jostling for a place in the line. Customers were getting upset and ugly because others in the line were saving a place for friends and other family members. Thankfully, we had purchased more bears to be used for other promotions and we quickly made the decision to use them. With the help of our security guards we got the line untangled and under control.   We made an announcement that Santa had “authorized us to give away more bears” and that we would be giving out tickets to all children currently in the line. (A ticket meant that the child got a teddy bear.) Shoppers in line were welcome to save places for friends and family in the line to see Santa, but only children in line that had tickets would receive a teddy bear.   I went up and down the line repeatedly explaining the tickets and the line policy until the crowd calmed down and all tickets were distributed. By the time Santa arrived, that line stretched around the Santa set, from center court down one side of the mall, out an entrance and half way around one side of a department store - but people were calm and in the Holiday spirit. Lesson learned: Make plans for crowd control because you never know when you may need it. To this day, one of those bears sits on a shelf in my office as a reminder of that lesson.

#3 - Customers Will Complain About Anything If You Give Them The Opportunity

In 14 years, I’ve handled a lot of complaining customers. My favorite was a well dressed, well spoken older lady who stopped by our office one weekday in mid-December. She was loaded with bags and calmly and politely asked to speak with a manager. When I offered to help her she launched into a loud angry tirade about the free gift wrap. How dare we not charge and give the money to charity or allow the wrappers to take tips? How come we only had two color choices for the free wrap? (Red and green – go figure?) And what were we thinking only having six wrappers in the gift wrap center? At first I thought one of my co-workers was playing a joke on me. It took me about 30 seconds to realize that she was dead serious. Apparently I said the right things and she went on her way. After a moment of stunned silence everyone in the office lost it. We laughed until it hurt. Lesson learned: Customers truly will complain about anything, but you have to treat each and every one seriously. And if you can’t laugh at our industry’s little curve balls, you may not be in the right line of work.

#2 - It’s Not As Easy To Make Balloon Arches As You Think – Especially At 4AM

We were having a sidewalk sale and wanted to decorate with balloons. We thought it would be great to do giant arches that went over our escalators so people rode through them as they went up and down. Boy were we deflated when we got the quotes – balloon companies wanted thousands of dollars to make the arches and our budget was tiny. So we decided, my assistant, my visual merchandiser, and I that we would make them. How hard could it be – it was just PVC, balloons, some hi-float, and a helium tank or two – right? We decided to go for it and ordered the supplies, giddy at the cost of only $400. Several other staff members volunteered to help – we said no. How long could this take – we would be done by 1:00 or 2:00 am right? We met at the mall at 9:00 pm with sodas, pizza, and snacks thinking we would have a great time. And we did – for the first hour or so. After that, it became apparent that this would not go nearly as fast as we thought. Your fingers really hurt after tying several hundred balloons and sliding them on to PVC poles. We were still there at 8:30 am when the rest of the staff came in. We had the mall decorated by 10:00 but we were exhausted and had a new appreciation for exactly what it takes to make balloon décor. Lesson learned: Ask for help when you need it and NEVER EVER turn down volunteers!

#1 - When The Nut House Burns Down, Call 911

My very first night as MOD at my very first center was quite eventful. I had worked in the industry for about 45 days. I had survived mall-wide trick-or-treat on Halloween and though I was ready for anything. Until I picked up my phone to hear the young customer service representative on duty tell me in a panicked voice, “the nut house is on fire.”   My response was to calmly tell her to put down the phone and call 911. I then got the marketing manager (who happened to still be there) and went running to center court. When I got there, the Morrow’s Nut House was in fact on fire and the manager from a neighboring shoe store was using a small fire extinguisher to try to put out a large fire. Flames shot out of the roasting machine and the oil combined with the fire extinguisher foam created thick and horrible smelling smoke. The Morrow’s employee was crying and a semi-large crowd had gathered to watch.   As the mall filled with dense black smoke, the fire department arrived, and we were ordered to evacuate.   I had no idea how to do this – thankfully my marketing manager did. Lesson learned:   Be prepared for a crisis of any kind and know how to handle one when it does happen. Because it is not a matter of if an emergency will happen, but when. (Oh, and running towards a burning fire and thick smoke is probably not the smartest thing to do either.)

What does this have to do with DIY you ask? More than you think. As funny as some of these stories are, I did actually live, learn and laugh over or through every one of them. Besides, how many people can actually say they have had people bathe in their mall fountains? (A story I will spare you.) But when you think about it, what better way to teach yourself something than by experience. Conventional? No way! Some great DIY lessons learned? Absolutely!

Sidebar

Have a great story that taught you a lesson in a funny or interesting way? Here’s your chance to share! Email them to wendy.ellis@generalgrowth.com and we’ll print some of the best in a future DIY column!

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DIY - Social Media - One Year Later - From JonesReportPlus - June, 2010

7/28/2010

1 Comment

Last Spring, I wrote a series of DIY columns about the use of social media in shopping center marketing and public relations and encouraged all of you to take the opportunity to shift your center’s communications from a model where customers are talking about you to a model where customers are talking to you. In the last year, I have often been asked by colleagues if I still believe social media is the "force to be reckoned with" that the marketing and public relations community swore it would be. The answer is a resounding yes!

Social media continues to explode. If Facebook were a country, it would now be the third largest in the world. One in eight couples who married in 2009 met on a social networking site. YouTube is now the second largest search engine in the world. Social networking sites overtook "adult" web sites as the number one activity on the internet in 2009. Think social media is still just for kids? Re-think - the fastest growing segment on Facebook is women ages 55-65. 96% of GenY belongs to at least one social network. (Remember, GenY is in their mid 20’s to mid 30’s now.) Social media even has its own buzz word now – "socialnomics", based on the book of the same title by Erik Qualman. (Great read BTW.) This video was posted on YouTube on July 30, 2009: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIFYPQjYhv8. In less than a year, it was updated because a bunch of the stats were outdated: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFZ0z5Fm-Ng. My favorite addition to the updated video is simply this – the ROI for social media is that your business will still be around in 5 years.

It’s an amazing phenomenon – and the shopping center world is finally starting to pay attention and jump in. I hope you are all happily posting, tweeting, and blogging on behalf of your centers with terrific results. (If not, check earlier posts for some tips to get started.) If you are, read on…..

Get By With A Little Help From Your "Friends"

Your Facebook friends/fans and Twitter followers are your best customers. They are your VIP’s, your advocates; the folks interested enough to seek you out because they truly want to hear what you have to say. And the very best thing about these wonderful folks – they’ll tell you what they want. They’ll tell you what their friends want. They will also tell their friends (and their friends and their friends) what you say if they value the message. Generally, they make up between 15 and 25 percent of your fan base and they are not to be ignored. The value they bring to your social media marketing efforts can not be measured – think of them as the customer you get to talk to day in and day out, without paying thousands of dollars to a market research team. They are your own private focus group – and it’s so easy to give them what they want!

One of the biggest mistakes I see made in shopping center Facebook and Twitter pages is a failure to acknowledge and thank the fans/friends/followers. Ask them what they would like to see on your page – they’ll tell you – then post/tweet it. Maybe its insider scoop on what stores are having a sale, maybe its advance notice on an event, or perhaps announcing a new store and hour before you send out the press release. So easy to do and the payoff is huge. Thank them every now and then for their support – they will be so thrilled, especially if you recognize them by name. (Try posting a special offer just for them.) Make sure you are monitoring your page enough that you are responding so that they feel acknowledged. It’s the same principles that make for great service in person – and they are way more important in the virtual world. Do you really want a Facebook friend posting out to all their friends that you didn’t treat them well?

The bottom line – it’s no longer about talking at your customers, it’s about talking with them. Be sure you take care of your friends and social media will serve you well.

It’s All About Engagement

I was recently asked if I would rather have a Facebook page with 3,000 fans and 20% engagement or 5,000 fans with 10% engagement. I didn’t even have to think – I will take 3,000 engaged fans any day of the week. Engagement refers to the number of fans that are interacting with your page – on Facebook that means clicking "Like", posting on your wall, commenting on one of your posts, RSVPing to and event, etc. On Twitter, engagement is measured by direct tweets and re-tweets. If you have engagement, fans/friends/followers will come – if you don’t your page will stagnate. Just like in the mall, activity breeds activity. Engaged fans indicate that your content is appropriate, appreciated and valued.

Remember, social media is about building a relationship and a two way communications stream. Pushing out information (ala an "ad") just isn’t enough. At the beginning, it can feel like you are talking to yourself but keep going. Generally, you’ll see quality engagement begin to develop right around 1,000 Facebook fans and 250 Twitter followers. (Generally – every market will be a little different.) By the time you reach 4,000 to 5,000 fans on Facebook, they’ll be taking you along for the ride – which is exactly what you want. It’s kind of like that old Saturday Night Live sketch – "talk amongst yourselves" – and they will. At that point, your job is to share what you know they want, foster the conversation when needed, answer questions, and enjoy the ride. Same goes for Twitter – monitor your mentions. When they start to outnumber you tweets in any given day you are doing it right!

In A Crisis

No article about social media right now would be complete without discussing how social media can (and should) be used in a crisis. Yep, here it comes, let’s talk about BP. The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and BP’s handling of it will be the case study for crisis social media communications that Walmart was back in the 90’s over their use of underage, underpaid sweatshop labor. I still run into PR trainers who pull out that Walmart CEO interview where his handler can be seen hand signing him to stop talking as the example of what not to do and the BP example is already making its way into PR trainer power points world wide.

Right now, poor handling of social media (not to mention traditional PR) has so overwhelmed BP that you can not even find their legitimate social media pages without some effort. Sites with catchy titles such as "Stop oil leak by stuffing BP execs in the pipe" (291,000 fans as of May, 2010) are dominating social media sites like Facebook. In fact if you search BP on Facebook, the top page that comes up is Boycott BP (690,000 fans as of May, 2010) and the top ten results are all anti-BP pages. If you search BP on Twitter, the first result is an account called BPGlobalPR (175,000 followers as of May, 2010)– which is nothing of the sort - and features sarcastic tweets in the "voice" of BP CEO Tony Hayward. You’ll find the same on YouTube, MySpace and every other social networking site. It’s a shame, and in my opinion, BP squandered a tremendous opportunity. Had they come out right away and accepted responsibility, used their established sites and pages to distribute factual information, start a conversation, engage the communities and consumer base, and put a relatable face on the situation (lets face it, Mr. Haywood and some of the other BP folks who have commented have dropped some real gems about "getting my life back" and "Louisiana isn’t the only place that has shrimp") the outcome could have been dramatically different. By the time they started to do some of these things it was just too late. BP did not react in the RT world of social media, forgot that in today’s RT communications that they were dealing with a two way conversation stream, and refused to engage. Just how much it will cost them remains to be seen.

But for all BP’s troubles, a second crisis was happening in our country at the same time as the oil spill and the social media there had a very different outcome. Nashville, TN experienced record flooding the first weekend in May. The Cumberland River overflowed putting up to 10 feet of water in iconic Nashville properties like the Gaylord Opryland Hotel, the Grand Old Opry, Opry Mills Mall, and several blocks of downtown Nashville. Folks were struggling – their jobs were at stake, their homes were destroyed, and transportation and communications were sketchy. Yet within hours, the Gaylord folks had a video tour of the hotel damage up on their FB page (and to the local media) and statements re-assuring their employees that their paychecks and benefits would be paid for at least 6 weeks. Their Facebook page went from about 800 fans to almost 4,000 in a matter of days. The Grand Old Opry didn’t miss a single show – they simple found other locations and brought in Opry members to give video tours of the damage. The Community Association put out a call on their Facebook page and web site for a few volunteers – and got over 1,000 in a few hours. And Opry Mills Mall went from 1,300 Facebook fans to over 7,000 as it kept shoppers and mall employees updated about the clean up efforts – posting everything from where to go to get clean up jobs, to photos of the efforts, to video updates. Their fans were (and are still) volunteering to come clean the mall for them they are so engaged and the damage there was so great that the mall literally does not know when they will be able to open again. People needed information – and these organizations stepped up. All of them share just a few simple traits in their social media efforts: they were timely, honest, engaged, and relatable. Take a look at the Opryland Hotel or Opry Mills Facebook pages – we should all be so lucky as to have fans like these rallying around our business. Yes, Nashville was a natural disaster not a man made one, but the principals are the same. And I firmly believe that BP could have had a very different outcome had they used social media to their advantage.

What’s New

In an ever changing social media landscape, there are always new cool things out there. A few of my favorites are:

Facebook Ads: Talk about a quick, easy, and cheap way to advertise with tools that let you monitor and make changes and track results built right in. A $500 ad budget can buy you millions of impressions and grow your fan base by hundreds in a matter of hours. If you have never clicked on the "Promote With An Ad" link from your center’s Facebook page, now is the time to try it. A year ago, most folks did not know what they were. Now, Facebook ads are among the highest producing ROI tools in advertising and a two way conversation – the minute the viewer clicks "like" it’s a "Hi, how ya doing" for your center.

Hootsuite: One of the biggest questions I get about social media is "How much time does it take?" With Hootsuite – the answer is not much. You can monitor almost every social networking site out there in one location, plan and schedule tweets and posts, respond – the works. About the only thing you can’t do is post videos. The best part – ITS FREE! Go to hootsuite.com and check it out.

FourSquare: Foursquare is a new web application that is all about letting your friends know where you are and figuring out where they are. You can collect collect points, prizes, coupons, etc. as you go about your everyday business. Think Twitter meets Farmville. It’s the latest buzz and in less than a year already has 1.9 million users. Check it out at foursquare.com.

　

Social media remains, in my eyes, the ultimate DIY project. With virtually no money and not all that much time, you can make a big impact. For years, our industry has spent big bucks talking at our shoppers. My DIY take – stop spending money and invest some time in talking with your customers. Create a conversation and a relationship – and your center will be one of those businesses that will still "be here" in 5 years!

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DIY - Social Media Part 2 - From JonesReportPlus - March, 2009

7/28/2010

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As you have probably guessed after the last DIY column, I’m a big fan of using social media. The opportunity to shift communications from a model where customers are talking about you to a model where customers are talking to you is changing how we do business and revolutionizing how we communicate – in my opinion for the better.

Social media is one of the most cost effective forms of communication on the planet – in fact it’s generally free. In the last DIY column, we offered some tips to get started with social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. The second piece of the social media explosion is using social media in a crisis. Just like crisis PR, the use of social media in a crisis is "a whole different animal" from the traditional promotional information that is included in a blog, Facebook page, or YouTube video. In a crisis, social media can be utilized to distribute accurate information to the media, consumers, and business partners at lightening speed. That can be a huge asset in some situations, and a liability in others. So, how do you decide?

First, there are a few things you should know before you try using social media in a crisis….
· Social media in a crisis requires some digital infrastructure. Unless you have access to an agency or an IT department that can react instantly or your crisis is so huge that virtually everyone wants information immediately, it is best to have some structure in place.
· Going "viral", much like being proactive with traditional PR is not without risk. You have to start with the understanding that there will be people who say negative things about your property and that this is not about individual comments but getting information out and opening a dialogue.
· You need a strategy, messaging points, and what I call a social media map – a guide to which media you want to use for each message and/or audience, how you want to use it and what the goals are for the use of that medium. Generally all of these things have to be created at lightening speed and on the fly. If you are uncomfortable with the fast pace, you may need some help.
· Not every social medium works for every crisis. What you need to say and to who will determine what medium works best.
· Unlike promotional uses of social media, using social media in a crisis requires time and effort – just like other methods of crisis PR. This is not a Facebook page or Twitter Tweet you can update in a few moments a few times a day. You have to monitor and respond throughout the crisis so that posts are RT and relevant.

So, keeping these five things in mind….

In my opinion your center’s most valuable asset is its reputation and in this day and age, anyone can damage that reputation with a couple clicks of their mouse. The most common forms of damaging social media are viral emails and negative blog or page posts. Most often, you’ll know when one of these emails is making the rounds – I normally start getting forwarded copies from concerned retailers, customers, and business associates within hours. And if you start using Google Blog Alerts (or a social media monitoring service such as Radian 6) you’ll know about the blogs.

Respond to the emails with a counter effort. Get your hands on every possible copy of a viral email. Ask friends business associates – basically anyone you know, anyone they know, etc. to forward the copies they have received to you. Create a response statement that is concise and states the facts about your situation. If possible work with local law enforcement or your center security to refute the information spread in the incorrect email. Once your response is prepared, create a generic email address – either within your company’s server (for example: xyzmall@abcmallcompany.com or info@xyzmall.com) or create one using one of numerous free services like gmail or hotmail. Then simply type in every email address from every copy of every version you received in the BCC space and send the email to yourself. The trick is to respond as quickly as possible – remember this email is spreading in real time so a response that happens five days later is ineffective. You need a response that happens five hours (better yet five minutes) later.

Be prepared – you may get responses from people wondering how you got their email address. I recommend simply stating that concerned customers forwarded the email to the center and that the center is responding to all email addresses that received the original email. I assure these folks that all responses were sent BCC and that these email addresses will not be used for any other purpose.

Depending on the content of the original email you may also want to send a release to the local mainstream media stating that the email is false and why – even if you do not send out a release, in many cases the media will call you asking about it. At one of my centers, we had an email circulating that was attributed to the author’s "brother-in-law who is a county police officer". It was full of incorrect urban legend style statements that were presented as facts. We went directly to the county police and they issued a press release stating that the email was not true. We attached a PDF of the release and a link to the police department’s online press room in our response email. The story stating that the email was hoax made the front page of our paper – in large part due to the statement from the police.

The same goes for false blog and page posts. You see these most often in response to news stories that appear online and then get copied in to blogs. You can, and should respond. Use a shorter more concise version of your email statement and include a web site or email address for those who want to contact you for additional information and post it as a response comment on the blogs. Respond to all legitimate blog posts you can find. Be prepared for your posts to set off a flurry of discussion and have thick skin. Once you have posted your comments, in almost every case you should not respond to the follow up comments no matter how bad they may be unless someone else posts seriously factually incorrect info. Responding to opinions is not your goal. Spreading correct factual information and opening an avenue for customers to get correct information or communicate with your center directly is.

If something is incorrect or offensive, talk to the site owner and have it taken down. For example, I know of a business where someone died on their floor – while someone who happened to be there shot video on their camera phone. The videographer then posted the very graphic video on YouTube. The business was able to work with YouTube to have the video taken down. Legitimate sites will do this – most have a reporting feature built in to handle these situations.

Not all crises are matters of reputation. I have seen social media used to spread product recall information, to quickly spread information about traffic situations, and to get the word out regarding weather related evacuations. Blogs can be used to post correct information (an error in an ad, an error in a web site posting, etc.), post response information, or keep the media updated. I think back to hurricanes and blizzards that have forced the closing of some of my centers where I would have loved to use Twitter to let shoppers and the media know that the mall was closing or let them know that the mall was re-opening after the storm had passed. I had another center that had to be evacuated due to what we thought was a gas leak (thankfully it turned out to be a malfunctioning escalator) where I would have loved to have had a blog on the center web site to post correct information and answer customer FAQ’s. And at still another that had a perceived "teen issue" where I would have loved to have started a Facebook page to open a dialogue between shoppers of all ages and mall management. Imagine what I could have learned from what they said and the suggestions they made?

My favorite social media story came from a recent meeting with a prospective PR agency. The owner told us a story about how they helped one of their clients, a high end hotel chain, combat some negative blog posts. It seems a guest at the hotel was in his room posting about how terrible the hotel was and how he was disappointed with his stay. Because the agency was monitoring the blog buzz, they were able to call the manager of the hotel and pass on the nature of the complaint. The hotel manager immediately sent someone to the guest’s room to fix the problem and offer some free amenities to ensure the remainder of the guest’s stay was great! Within minutes, the same guest was back on the blog talking about how great the hotel was and how responsive they were! Now that is effective monitoring and response to the impacts of social media!

The uses are endless – and best of all can be tailored to your center, your audience, and your messaging needs including the need for responses and dialogue. And your only cost is usually time – a true advantage in this environment of cost cutting and shrinking budgets. I believe that social media – be it promotional, pr, or crisis related is the best and most effective DIY project to come along in years. Check your local business publications, Google "Using Social Media" or chat with your PR agency – you’ll be amazed at how many articles are out there that can give you great ideas and help you get started!

Sidebar:

A Few Words About When Not To Use Social Media In A Crisis

If you are directly dealing with victims, social media is not the answer. Think of the recent Air France crash as an example – can you imagine if the families of those on the plane had to get their information from Twitter, Facebook, or the Air France web site or blog? Victims always deserve personal care and attention from a real person – be that on the phone or on site. Social media never can and never should be used in place of personal care and attention.

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DIY - Social Media - From JonesReportPlus - January 2009

7/28/2010

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Facebook. My Space. Ning. YouTube. Blogspot. Flickr. CafeMom. Twitter. Fark. Digg. Scribd. So is your head spinning yet?   These are some of the more established social media and networking sites – are you using them to communicate with your customers? What about viral emails? Do you know how to respond when they are used to damage the reputation of or spread incorrect information about your center? Do you know what kind of blog traffic your center receives?

Social media is one of the most cost effective forms of PR and advertising on the planet – in fact it’s generally free. Its RT (real time) accurate, easily changed and updated, and the vast majority of shopping centers are not even scratching the surface of the power of this medium.   Wondering where to start? Here are some DIY suggestions to get you started in social media that will take virtually no time to set up and only minutes or so a day to maintain:

Facebook & My Space
You use them at home or on your iPhone right? You should be using them for your center! Create a Facebook and a MySpace page for your center and start signing up friends and/or fans. It’s simple – just go to facebook.com and myspace.com and create an account profile. Just follow the instructions to set up your pages to your preferences and you’ll be all set. Be sure to post photos of your center as well as videos if you have them. Hint: Post your center’s most recent television ad, footage of a great news story about the mall, or a video tour of your center. Use your current press release boilerplate for the description section (sometimes called “About Me”) and post your recent press releases, PDF’s of your ads and news stories and a link to your center web site. Once you have your page set up (and be sure that you set up your profile so that anyone can see it) use the invite friends features to invite everyone on your current email mailing list to become a friend/fan. Once you have everything you need gathered it should take you less then 30 minutes to set up your page.

The next step is updates – keeping your pages fresh and up to date is simple. Log in every morning and in the update section simply post what is going on at the center that day in a line or two of text. Hint: Sale information free gift information, new stores, or event information work really well. Your merchants can help – just ask them what’s going on in their stores! Upload any new photos videos or PDF’s, and answer any posts on your profile page and you are good to go. Facebook and MySpace work in very similar ways – on average, most folks I know who use these tools spend 5-10 minutes per day (usually with their morning coffee) updating their pages.

You can also use Facebook and MySpace to communicate with niche audiences. Create pages for your kids club, your stroller mom group, your teen board, or your mall walkers (Yes, seniors use Facebook too – especially if someone takes the time to teach them how. Sounds like a great community event to me!) You’ll be amazed at the results. Your goal is to communicate in real time and create a network of shoppers who believe they are getting the inside scoop. Test it out for yourself for just $200. After your pages have been up and running for several months and you have a fairly good amount of friends/fans, post an offer that the first 20 customers to come to your Customer Service Center with the code you post on a specific date, get a free $10 gift card. You’ll be amazed how fast those cards are claimed. Do something like that regularly with your network (a special free gift for the first 50 kids club members, a free coffee mug for the first 25 mall walkers, etc.) and you’ll have shoppers in the habit of visiting your site daily to see what’s in it for them.) Once you have Facebook and MySpace set up, consider…….

YouTube
YouTube is one of the most widely used social media sites in the world. It’s easy to use – usually all you need is the video files that your digital camera can take.   Real estate agents started using YouTube in force about 3-4 years ago to give video tours of homes for sale. Your center can use it to give video tours of the center, of available inline and common area spaces, and of your RMU’s or other equipment.   Post videos of special events – perhaps Santa can record a message for the kids. Post videos of activities such as press conferences, awards ceremonies, performing groups (be sure to have your subjects sign a release form).   Believe me – the parents and family members of those in the videos will flock to the site to view them. When they do other videos you have posted will pop up as viewing options – and chances are good they will view those too! The files need to be of good resolution and if there is narration the sounds needs to be clear – other than that there is nothing to it.   Simply go to youtube.com and follow the instructions to create an account. Shoot your videos (again the video option on most digital cameras creates very usable files) then follow the directions to upload them. Hint: Be sure to post these on your Facebook and MySpace pages too!

YouTube users will find them when they search but you can also direct them to the videos on YouTube from your web site and ads. Imagine if you posted a 2 minute clip of the performing groups that visited your center at Christmas. If the parents of each child in the group view the video then pass it on to just 5 of their family members and friends who pass it on to just five of their family and friends….. Well you get the picture. You have gone viral in a few clicks and in doing so created good will, exposed thousands of people to your center in a fun interactive way, and started a buzz among your shoppers. Chances are good that your competition isn’t doing this! The great thing about YouTube is that you can post as often or as little as you need to – once you have your account set up, just post things of interest. (Hint: the more you post, the bigger your following will become!) So you have videos posted on YouTube and are ready to try something a little more robust. Consider…..

Blogging:
Blogs are the newspaper of the new millennium. It seems just about everyone has a blog for just about every reason and everyone is now a reporter. If you do a Google Blog Search on your center’s name you will probably be stunned at how much blog traffic your centers gets. Some common themes: responses to news stories posted on web sites by the local media, movie reviews on films showing at your theaters, real estate locators, restaurants reviews, store customer service compliments and complaints retail product reviews, clubs that meet in your food court that you did not know about – the list goes on and on. You may be surprised to learn what is being said about your center out there in cyberspace for the entire world to see. Aside from your normal Google alerts for news on your center, be sure you are getting Google Blog Alerts so that you have some idea what is being said about your center via bloggers.

You can use blogging to promote your center your events, your stores – just about anything! You can create your own blogs at myspace.com, blogspot.com or blogger.com.   Just log on follow the easy steps to create your blog add some photos of your center and a brief description (usually your boilerplate will work great) and you are in business. Be sure to set up the appropriate monitoring devices to eliminate undesirable language etc. (Most sites give you the option to approve comments before they post via a simple email notification.) The trick to successful blogging is keeping your blog fresh and updated. Remember when you write for your blog you need to use spoken English rather than written and write for an online audience who communicates at the speed of real time (ie: the fewer words the better). Invite everyone on your center’s email mailing list to follow your blog and participate. You can write about just about anything but the best thing about blogs is the opportunity to carry on a real time communication. Ask your followers what news stores they would like to see, what events they enjoy the most or what things about your center are favorites or irritants. They’ll tell you! There is nothing like blogging to stay up to the minute connected as well as for use as a little informal market research. Best of all most blogs take only about 15 minutes a day to maintain and keep fresh.

Progress In Our Industry:
The use of social media has been slow to happen but things are starting to speed up. Search “shopping mall” on Facebook and you’ll get over 500 from around the world! Check out King of Prussia Mall on Facebook as a great example a place to start – this center has fan pages created by shoppers! Now that’s a network. Bluewater Shopping Mall in the UK is another great example. Many of our retailers also have pages – check out The Cheesecake Factory and Gap on Facebook as more great examples especially when it comes to setting up fan pages.

ICSC is also starting to use social media. In the coming weeks look for a Facebook presence for CMD’s with a network where CMD’s can connect, discuss industry issues, share ideas for center marketing, and stay in touch. Other designations may follow. In addition, pages to help those looking to achieve their designations find a place to network and meet “study buddies” now that the test is given online are in the works.   The intent of these pages is to create additional value in the ICSC professional designations for those who have already achieved them and to create a forum for those working to achieve them.

A Word About Social Media In A Crisis:
Social media is also one of the most under utilized tools on public relations, specifically in a crisis. In my opinion your center’s most valuable asset is its reputation and in this day and age, anyone can damage that reputation with a couple clicks of their mouse. The most common forms of damaging social media are viral emails and negative blog posts. Most often, you know when one of these emails is making the rounds and if you start using Google Blog Alerts you’ll know about the blogs. From now on start responding. Here’s how:

Get your hands on every possible copy of a viral email. Ask friends business associates – basically anyone you know anyone they know etc to forward the copies they have received to you. Chances are they probably are already sending them your way. Create a response statement that is concise and states the facts about your situation. If possible work with local law enforcement or your center security to refute the information spread in the incorrect email.   Once your response is prepared, create a generic email – either within your company’s server (for example xyzmall@abcallcopany.com) or create one using one of numerous free services like gmail or hotmail. Then simply type in every email address from every copy of every version you received in the BCC space and send the email to yourself. In about an hour a day you can respond to everyone who received the false viral email. Hint: Be prepared – you may get responses from people wondering how you got their email address.   I recommend simply stating that concerned customers forwarded the email to the center and that the center is responding to all email addresses that received the original email. I assure these folks that all responses were sent BCC and that these email addresses will not be used for any other purpose. Depending on the content of the email you may also want to send a release to the local mainstream media stating that the email is false and why – in many cases they will call you asking about it.

The same goes for false blog posts. You see these most often in response to news stories that appear online and then get copied in to blogs. You can, and should respond. Use a shorter more concise version of your email statement and include a web site or email address for those who want to contact you for additional information and post it as a response comment on the blogs. Respond to all legitimate blog posts you can find. Hint: Be prepared for your posts to set off a flurry of discussion and have thick skin. Once you have posted your comments, in almost every case you should not respond to the follow up comments no matter how bad they may be unless someone else posts seriously factually incorrect info. Responding to opinions is not your goal.

So are you ready to really look at the world of social media and networking? Beyond Facebook, MySpace and YouTube is a whole world of social media and social networking just waiting for you and your center. Check out http://traffikd.com/social-media-websites/ for a comprehensive list of social media and networking sites categorized by interest. If your center has a niche this is a great place to find a social media site to fit! I encourage you to make it one of you 2009 goals to start utilizing this largely free ultimately effecting and perfect DIY medium to the benefit of your center.

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First Post!

7/28/2010

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Start blogging by creating a new post. You can edit or delete me by clicking under the comments. You can also customize your sidebar by dragging in elements from the top bar.

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DIY - The Maxi Mentality - Part 2 - from JonesReport Plus (June 2008)

DIY - The Maxi Mentality - from JonesReport (May 2004)

DIY - Live, Laugh & Learn - from JonesReport Plus (April 2007)

DIY - Social Media - One Year Later - From JonesReportPlus - June, 2010

DIY - Social Media Part 2 - From JonesReportPlus - March, 2009

DIY - Social Media - From JonesReportPlus - January 2009

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Wendy K. Ellis

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